Daughters of India – III

Read part I – https://www.storyberrys.com/2021/11/26/daughters-of-india-i/

Read part II – https://www.storyberrys.com/2021/11/29/daughters-of-india-ii/

QUEST – III

Kalpana applied for Masters which made her mother unhappy. She told her husband, “I do not think Kalpana is going in the right direction. When I had opposed her college admission, your friend suggested letting her complete graduation, which would help her get a better life partner. And you agreed to this idea. Now, look at the fruits of that decision. Kalpana wants to continue her studies. She wants to do her Master’s. What is the use? Ultimately, she has to cook food and manage the kitchen. But this mad girl insists on going for masters. I strongly oppose this idea.”

Kalpana’s father talked to her, “Are you crazy to think about studies yet further?”

“Yes, Papa. My friends Archana, Shubha are going for post-graduation. Why not I? Who says I cannot manage the kitchen after my post-graduation? I promise I will do everything that mom wants me to do. But let me complete my masters.”

After a lot of insistence from Kalpana, her father agreed to let her do a Master’s. Mother was annoyed. She wanted KALPANA to be a good housewife, hence she asked Kalpana to do all sorts of kitchen work.  Exam or no exam, project work, or any other assignment Kalpana was not spared of her kitchen work. Her brother was also studying but he got all the privileges and was not asked to do any housework. “I do not want to be put to shame by making Kalpana study masters and not good at kitchen work.”  Kalpana’s mother used to utter repeatedly.

With the spirit to counter all that hardship, Kalpana completed her Master’s with honors. When she heard that Archana was to go for a Ph.D., that idea captured her mind too.

“Baba, I want to do a doctorate,” Kalpana said.

And there came a firm statement from her father, “That is enough. I do not want to hear anything from you. Tomorrow, we have called Mr. Tangade, my friend. His son is an Engineer and he would come to see you. If he likes you, you will be married to him next month. Do not even think of further studies. You will be married within a month or so.”

The next day Tangade family came to see Kalpana. Mrs. Parchure readied Kalpana with a good saree and some gold jewelry. Kalpana looked beautiful and was approved instantly by Tangades first by the seniors and then by the junior, Rajan, whose opinion mattered very little.

After marriage, Kalpana took charge of Tangade’s kitchen and started being an efficient housewife. One day Kalpana opened her heart to Rajan when they were alone in the house. “Actually, I wanted to do a Ph.D. in international politics. But my mom opposed it. Can I do it now? I will manage the kitchen as well as my office.”

Rajan was broad-minded though a bit traditional. He agreed to it. They disclosed the idea to seniors in the house one evening. And that was it. Rajan’s mother opposed the idea and threatened to leave the house if Kalpana went to the office.  Despite sincere attempts by Rajan to convince his mother, she was adamant on the idea of not allowing daughter-in-law to go out of the house for work. Luckily, Rajan was on Kalpana’s side. He insisted Kalpana should go for further studies.

Mrs. Tangade senior did leave for her native place when Kalpana started going to the office. Mr. Tangade also followed his wife and went to their native place. But Rajan stood by Kalpana.  She managed her household before going to the office and after coming back home from the office finished all the remaining work. Rajan traditional on that account did not help Kalpana even a bit in the kitchen matters. He insisted that the kitchen had to be managed by the lady of the house alone.

After a few months, when Kalpana was expecting her first child, she was taken home by Parchures for delivery. A baby girl was born which again was resented by both the mothers. Tanagde and Parchure. After the newborn baby was 2 months old, Kalpana returned to her house where Rajan was managing somehow.  After return, Kalpana took over and made arrangements for baby care during the hours she was to attend the office. Kalpana found it extremely difficult to manage the baby, office, and house kitchen. Except for moral support from Rajan, everything else was managed by Kalpana. But she did continue. She completed her paperwork when the baby had grown 2 years. Kalpana was awarded Ph.D. in International politics.

She continued her job managing the baby and the kitchen and traveling for an hour by local train to the office.

Days passed by and there was a letter from an international organization inviting Kalpana for a conference in the USA. Kalpana had submitted her paper on TERRORISM and ITS ELIMINATION in an open competition. To her dismay, it had won first prize. And to receive the prize, she was invited with an air ticket to Buffalo, USA.  Rajan was very happy but the idea of Kalpana going alone with the baby did not appeal to him. First, he rejected the idea outright but then he conceded. He helped Kalpana with the formalities of foreign travel.

QUEST – IV

Rageshri returned home with the application for the Master’s program. Her father called her close and said, “Rageshri, we are a business community. We earn money by doing business. Nobody in our family has gone beyond graduation. If men do not study beyond graduation, what will a girl like you will do by getting a Master’s degree? Look at us. We have not studied beyond our schools, forget college. Still, we have made enough money. Your mother has not studied even in school but still she manages our house so efficiently. Your brother is managing the business but he also has not gone to college. You are the first to have graduated in our family. And now you want to do masters. That is not acceptable.”

“But, Bapu, this is a new field and if I do post-graduation, it will carry weightage!” Rageshri pleaded.

“Master’s degree and that too in the US. Nothing doing. I will call my sister and ask her to search for a boy for you.”

“Bapu, my friend Archana is planning to go to the US to do a Ph.D. That will be at least 5 years. I am thinking of MS which will be only two years. Bapu, please!”

Nothing could convince her father. But once Archana’s parents met him and they discussed the same matter at length. Rageshri found her father thinking differently. He finally agreed and told the family about his consent. Rageshri’s grandmother made her hue and cry. She talked about going beyond tradition would harm Rageshri’s marriage prospects. Rageshri being accommodative, did not give up her efforts to convince her grandmother and her mother who was not totally against the idea.

So finally, Rageshri applied to the US university and after her admission was confirmed, took a flight to the USA. Clinical research was the field of her interest. She landed in Los Angeles and started pursuing her career with full zest.

After successful completion of the course, Rageshri joined an organization and invited her parents to her place. They put up the condition. Unless she agrees to tie the knots with a boy of their choice, they would not be interested in visiting her. Rageshri realized the seriousness of the parents’ sentiments. She promised them to go back to India after the completion of a project which would take no more than six months. And Rageshri did complete the project very successfully for which she was nominated for an extraordinary achievement award. After reaching India, Rageshri was introduced to a Doctor Kailash from their community who was settled in Texas, USA. After all the formalities the marriage was fixed to be conducted in Mumbai and then she would fly back to the US along with her husband to pursue her career.

CONJUNCTION

Kalpana with her three-year-old daughter landed at the Buffalo airport in the afternoon of Friday. Her conference was supposed to start on Monday. The winter was just setting in December. The sky was overcast. The temperature was around 3 degrees.  As informed by the conference organizing committee, Kalpana came prepared with woolen clothing for herself and especially for her daughter.

She called for a taxi and headed for the hotel where she was put up by the organizing committee. After checking into the hotel, Kalpana got herself & her baby refreshed. She started thinking how nice it would have been if she was in contact with her friends. They would have been happy if they knew that she was in the US to receive an international award.

On the day of the conference, Kalpana reached the conference auditorium well in time. The hall was jam-packed. A few dignitaries took their place on stage. At the predetermined time, the convenor took charge of the microphone.

“Good evening to all. We are so happy that a small event that started ten years ago, has taken such a strong position in international affairs. To appreciate the achievements of the women in different fields, our organization conducts different competitions at international levels and also keeps scanning different publications in scientific fields to note remarkable discoveries by females.

This year we have selected eleven women who have done significant work in fields related to human life. Music, international politics, Information technology, biology, medicines, dance, sports, religion, painting, astronomy, and administration are the fields in which we found some great women achievers.

And I am happy to announce their names and request them to come on to the stage and allow us to felicitate those great personalities who have achieved their goals despite all odds. The path they chose was not an easy one. There were so many obstacles they had to overcome. But they did. They struggled and struggled hard. We salute them with all earnestness.

These personalities for different subjects are from different countries. But this year what a coincidence!

There are four daughters originally from India.

Mrs. Kalplana Tangade has won first prize for her article on how to combat international terrorism. A housewife with a traditional family background thought totally on different lines and put her ideas on how to tackle international terrorism. She has proved everyone wrong who thinks housewives cannot think internationally.

The second name on the list, a biological scientist is Archana Deshmukh. Fighting against all odds, Archana found out a phenomenon that was going to help humanity in dealing with many a disease. Archana has defined the word perseverance very profoundly and with the necessary intelligence she discovered a relationship between different neurons of the human brain.

The third achiever is Shubha who is a computer scientist who has developed new logic which is going to make use of computers for illiterate persons.

The next is Rageshri who has got extraordinary methods in clinical biology. She has developed some methods which will be a great help in diagnosing psychological diseases.

Our heartiest congratulations to all these daughters of India!

The best achiever in Music is Ms. Sukrino from Uganda. Her contribution to the music world…..”

And the list went on to celebrate women.

But the four daughters of India were stunned to see their classmates from school on stage being felicitated at the same time. They were so happy to see each other after many years and have achieved something extraordinary.

And in midst of the thundering applause, the four daughters of India made their country proud.

–

Vijay Likhite

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